Gender-based
Violence in Bangladesh: Trends and Typology
Trends and Typology of Gender-based Violence
Gender-based violence is merely a reflection of the persisting unequal relationship
between the two sexes, which is accepted as almost a practical norm in our
society. In the prevailing patriarchal societal structure, social customs,
traditions and institutional regulations tend to marginalize the position,
rights and status of women and even undermine their security. Therefore,
the discriminatory practices, which uphold male supremacy over female, have
become an established rule and women have to comply with it without any
question.
Women therefore, traditionally remained in the interior, devoid of their
basic rights and became accustomed to the situation. One major implication
of this process of being accustomed is that issues relating to gender-based
violence are seldom made public or reported outside the interior of a house.
Moreover society, including women began to label any woman who dared to
question the authority of men to exert control over women as "bad women".
At the same time, as women are generally considered as "property" of men,
the outcry of violence against women remained confined to the "private sphere"
of life.
Therefore, while we proceed to any discussion regarding gender-based violence,
we should always keep in view this general framework of women's status in
traditional society.
Gender-based violence exists in Bangladesh in all of its visible and invisible
forms. Rape, marital rape, child rape, gang rape, murder, trafficking of
women and girl children, repression of women to simple nutritional deprivation
are some of the different forms of violence that are perpetrated against
women. Women are merely seen as objects of repression and women aged eight
to even fifty are not spared. The fear of rape while in police custody appears
to have become a new concern for women. This indicates that women are not
even safe in the hands of the members of law enforcing agencies. Also in
Bangladesh marriage is perceived as a personal contract where the consent
of the bride regarding sex is totally ignored. Therefore, the issue of "marital
rape" is considered a taboo subject in society, although it can cause severe
mental and physical harm to the woman. A classification of existing patterns
of gender-based violence in Bangladesh may be categorised as follows:
o Sexual harassment including incest;
o Different forms of rape- involving cases like marital rape, child rape,
gang rape and custodial rape;
o Murder - including murder due to fatwa, dowry, marriage and divorce and
through acid throwing etc;
o Abuse of women through fatwa;
o Infanticide;
o Dowry;
o Acid throwing.
In a society where violence against women is seen as a accepted practice,
the question may be raised as to why violence against women has now become
a major social issue in the country. First the rising recognition of "women's
rights as human rights" in the international arena and the freedom of press
which ensured easy accessibility to both print and electronic media have
helped raising awareness on this issue in Bangladesh. At the same time,
women are now involved in economic activities to meet the needs of the family.
From the viewpoint of a patriarchal society, working women are perceived
to be "easily accessible" and thus, it is easy to perpetrate different forms
of violence against them than those who remain inside of a house.
The rapid deterioration of law and order situation makes the situation even
more vulnerable for not only the working women but also for those who remain
inside a house. In the absence of law and order, it becomes easier for a
perpetrator to get away easily even after committing heinous acts like murder,
rape or acid throwing. While women already belong to a vulnerable section
of society, under this circumstance they become doubly vulnerable. More
importantly, in a male dominated society, any act of violation against a
woman, is considered to be a "shame" for the woman rather than for the perpetrator
who committed the crime.
Another important issue concerns the business of women's body, i.e. the
"sex industry", which is one of the most profitable businesses in the world.
With globalisation this business is no longer confined to the boundaries
of one country. Women of Third World countries, who live miserable lives
under poor economic conditions, are easily turned into products of such
business and hence, the concern for rise in the business of women trafficking.
As shown in the report of Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, presented
in the Beijing Conference, 1995, the number of women trafficked from Bangladesh
to Pakistan in the ten-year period proceeding September 1995 was 200,000.
The monthly average of women trafficked were between 200 to 400. The women
who live in the rural areas, especially in the border areas are the most
vulnerable to trafficking.
The Women's movement in Bangladesh has also made it possible to raise awareness
on the issues of gender-based violence and transform it from the "private
sphere" to the "public ". Thus, we see that with the social and cultural
transformations, violence against women has indeed turned into a broader
issue of social concern and inevitably calls into question the state of
law and order situation in our country.
In this section the research findings, based on both primary and secondary
sources are discussed.
Findings from Primary Sources
The primary source was collected through personal interviews conducted by
the author in three places as already mentioned. It was based on a questionnaire
consisting of 10 questions. The findings of the study are given below.
The Concept of Violence:
Majority of the respondents said that any activity that aims to infringe
the rights of other people can be termed as "violence". This broader definition
of violence included murder, rape, hijacking and snatching to all other
illegal means through which one violates another person's rights. Some also
defined the term as any activity that violates the existing peaceful condition.
It can be deduced from the responses, that all had a clear understanding
of the term. The respondents of Begunbari village, however, considered theft
of cattle as a serious problem of the area, along with robbery and stealing
and termed these as major sources of violence in the area.
The Concept of Violence against Women:
While I have found the common attitude of people, including both male and
female, somewhat negative towards gender issues, all the respondents showed
clear understanding on the issue of gender-based violence, though the level
of understanding varied from place to place. One respondent said the term
"violence against women" indicates any activity that is perpetrated against
the will of a woman. Thus, the basic point made by majority of the respondents
was that any action perpetrated on a woman without her consent is a violation
of her right and henceforth can be termed as "violence against women".
The respondents of Begunbari village however answered somewhat conservatively
on the issue. According to them, wife battering was permissible and they
did not consider it a violation. If a woman failed to undertake household
responsibilities properly, the respondents thought that the husband had
every right either to scold or beat the wife. What they identified as severe
gender-based violence was eve teasing, particularly the harassment of school
going girls. Due to the persisting problem of harassment to the school going
girls, the parents are forced to discontinue the education of young girls
and opt for the only escape root, as they termed it, get their young girls
married. Therefore, the usual age of marriage of women in the village is
only fifteen.
Violating Women's Security:
On the point of what violates the security of women, a range of issues came
forth from the respondents. The majority, however, mentioned that the incidents
of rape and acid throwing endanger security of women in a broader sense.
Among other issues, economic insecurity of women, women's subordinate position
in the family and in the society, domestic violence, dowry, and religious
reasons were identified as violating the security of women. Other important
issues that the respondents thought as infringing women's security were
the impediments embodied in the current structure of laws regarding women,
the unwillingness to try and punish the offenders, the inefficiency of the
law enforcing agencies and their alleged affiliation with the criminals.
Violation of Human Rights of Women:
In the test questionnaire, there was a question that asked what was the
act that most violates the human rights of women. Majority of the respondents
failed to understand and answer accordingly. Therefore, the author identified
several particular issues to make the question more comprehensible. The
issues identified were:
o Rape
o Murder
o Acid Throwing
o Fatwa
o Dowry
o Women's low status in the family and the society
Among the total 135 respondents, 28 per cent identified "rape" as the most
heinous crime against the human rights of women. The reasoning for recognising
it as a basic violation was the negative attitude of society and even that
of family members to accept the victim. The major comment made by the respondents
was "a raped woman has to lead a life like a dead person". In fact, many
of the respondents mentioned the inability of the present societal structure
to hate the perpetrators but rather disgraced the victim as being responsible
for the crime especially in cases of rape.
Nineteen per cent of the respondents then identified the tradition of dowry
as violating the human rights of women. In fact, the respondents of the
Begunbari village have identified the issue of dowry to be one of the major
problems of the village. In this village, no marriage can take place without
the delivery of a certain amount of cash money and gold ornaments. Twenty
per cent of all respondents identified the low position of women in the
family and the society as that which violated the human rights of women
the most. It was interesting to find out that in the Dhaka city area, 19
per cent of the respondents favoured this answer while in Narayanganj it
was 23 per cent and 18 per in Begunbari .
The next issue selected by the respondents was acid throwing. Seventeen
per cent of the respondents identified it as a perilous issue since the
victim has no other viable option but to carry the disfigured appearance
throughout her entire life. Fewer respondents picked up murder and fatwa
as a violation of women's human rights.
The respondents of the Dhaka city identified rape (27 per cent) and acid
throwing (23 per cent) as two major problems that affects the human rights
of women. In Narayanganj, rape (28 per cent) and women's low status in the
family and the society (23 per cent) and in Begunbari, acid throwing (30
per cent) and rape (21 per cent) emerged as major issues of concern of the
people.
The State of Law and Order Situation at Present:
In this category, the author identified five possible states of law and
order situation to find out the popular view and asked the reasons for identifying
so. The categorisation was as follows:
o Very Good
o Good
o Satisfactory
o Bad
o Very Bad/Unbearable
Among the total 135 respondents, 45 persons (33 per cent) identified the
present law and order situation as unbearable, 37 persons (27 per cent)
termed it bad, 32 persons (24 per cent) termed it satisfactory, 14 persons
(10 per cent) termed it good and 2 persons termed it to be very good.
More than 50 per cent respondents of the Dhaka city that is 27 persons described
the present state of law and order situation to be completely unbearable.
None of the city respondents identified the situation to be either good
or very good. Eighteen persons (36 per cent) termed it to be very bad while
the rest, which is only 5 persons (10 per cent), termed the situation to
be satisfactory.
In Narayanganj, the majority of the respondents, which is 40 per cent, described
the present condition of law and order situation to be satisfactory while
35 per cent considered it totally unbearable. Twenty-eight persons considered
the situation bad while only one person termed the situation as good. In
Begunbari, however, the majority thought the situation of current law and
order situation as good. This position was supported by 38 per cent of the
respondents. Thirty-one per cent of the respondents considered the situation
as satisfactory while 18 per cent thought it bad and 9 per cent thought
the situation unbearable. Only two persons of the respondents in the village
termed the law and order situation as very good.
In another question it was asked what were the areas of the country that
the respondents thought to be safe in terms of law and order situation and
in this respect, what was the status of the human rights of women. Some
of the respondents clearly identified the names of several cities, which
they considered to be totally unsafe in terms of law and order situation
and human rights of women. These cities were Barisal, Khulna, Chuadanga,
Chittagong, Jessore and bordering cities. However, the city dwellers identified
the remote areas of the country as unsafe in terms of law and order. Some
identified slums, village areas to be specifically bad in terms of law and
order situation. Other respondents considered village areas to be safe in
terms of both law and order situation and gender-based violence, as there
was an accountability mechanism in the rural areas initiated by the elderly
people. The primary reasons identified by the respondents for the decline
in law and order situation were the lack of an efficient law enforcing agency
to protect the public and political use of law enforcing agencies for their
own interests.
Another question asked whether there was any specific period when the law
and order situation turned excessively bad, and if so, how women were affected
under such extreme situation. Exactly half of the respondents (50 per cent)
from the Dhaka City area replied the condition of law and order situation
is always bad and women's human rights are affected simultaneously. Twelve
per cent of the respondents however, mentioned that there was no specific
period that can be determined as an extreme situation in terms of law and
order situation. On the other hand, 16 per cent said the law and order situation
turns bad in times of religious or other types of festivals and another
16 per cent identified the period through October to December as particularly
bad in terms of law and order situation. One has mentioned particularly
the summer time and another the time of national elections when the law
and order situation is extremely bad. With regard to answering the associated
part of the question, everyone held that women's human rights could be jeopardised
with the smallest indication in the deterioration of law and order situation.
One, however, has particularly mentioned the 31st night when right to free
movement is severely affected.
The respondents from Narayanganj held that there was no specific period
when the law and order situation turns out to be specifically bad. The respondents
of the Begunbari village however, mentioned that during the time of Ramadan
the incidents of cattle theft increase in a massive scale. But the respondents
of these two areas held that the condition of women's human rights remains
negative at all times.
Women's Safety Outside after Sunset
The next query was under the present circumstances, whether it was possible
for a woman to go outside after sunset. The majority of the respondents
answered in the negative. Among the 135 respondents, 84 per cent answered
that they never feel safe to go outside alone after sunset. Therefore, whatever
work they have to do, they try to complete it before dark. The rest, however,
said that though they consider the situation satisfactory, they prefer not
to step outside alone after sunset. Among the respondents of the Dhaka city,
90 per cent considered it to be totally unsafe while the rest identified
it to be satisfactory. Those who considered the situation after sunset as
satisfactory, pointed out busy places of the city and some government protected
areas like the cantonment areas as safe even after the sunset for women.
Most of the respondents, however, said that even in broad daylight it is
not safe for women to roam around the city. They also said people seldom
come forward to help another in problematic situations. At the same time,
if a lone woman is harassed outside, the society tends to blame the woman
for not having someone with her. The majority of the respondents also highlighted
the failure of the law enforcing agencies, especially police to ensure protection
for women.
Relationship Between the Deteriorating Law and Order Situation and Security
of Women
The majority of the respondents have clearly pointed out a direct relationship
between the deterioration of law and order situation and security of women.
In fact, almost 90 per cent of the respondents have identified the deterioration
of law and order situation to be one of the major sources of increased violence
against women. The degree of relationship, however, varied from respondent
to respondent.
Most of the respondents held the view that the deteriorating conditions
of law and order affects the women folk the most. People, who want to perpetrate
gender-based violence, find the atmosphere most conducive to do so. Moreover,
women's outside activities also had to be compromised due to the deteriorating
situation. Women become particularly victims of incidents like rape, acid
throwing, incest, eve teasing and so on. Some mentioned that the impact
of these incidents might have long term impact on a woman's life, which
in turn might affect the rearing practice of her future children. Some of
the respondents also mentioned that with the break up of the social chain
system, our traditional respect for women and elderly people have declined.
This also gives rise to sexual harassment towards
women at the work place, along with subtle discrimination in the working
atmosphere.
Some of the respondents, however, mentioned that the existing situation
for women might not change due to the overall decline in the law and order
situation and women might be subjected to the same amount of violence as
men.
Women's Status at the Policy Making Level and Priority on Women's Issues
The last question asked from the respondents was whether a woman, who is
at the highest level of policy making, should consider ensuring the security
of women as her first priority. The majority (60 per cent) of the respondents
of Dhaka mentioned that ensuring the security of women should receive highest
priority of women but none of the two subsequent regimes, both headed by
a woman, had done so. Only one mentioned that the issue of women's security
was partially met while two respondents mentioned that the issue was fully
materialised. Twelve per cent of the respondents mentioned that as women
belong to a vulnerable group, the issue of women's security should get highest
priority under every regime, whether a male or female heads it. One respondent
mentioned that the issue of security is important for both women and men
and one mentioned that the issue of security depends on the overall condition
of the security of the country.
The respondents of the Begunbari village overwhelmingly mentioned that the
government was doing a god job in looking after women's issues particularly
providing financial help to women. In this respect, they mentioned the government's
effort to introduce Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) card, a system that was
initiated by the government during the 1998's flood to deliver food to the
most destitute people, and the system of Elderly People's Allowance. But
with respect to ensure women's security, the respondents failed to identify
any positive steps. The same happened in the case of the respondents of
Narayanganj, who said there was no relationship between having a woman as
the head of the state and improvement of women's security.
Violence Against Women: Data Collected from Secondary Sources
Repression of women in Bangladesh is increasing day by day and it is difficult
to comprehend the actual situation of women with regard to gender-based
violence. At the same time, data regarding cases of violence against women
in our country are also very controversial. The prime sources of data are
the newspapers especially those published in Bengali as vernacular newspapers
provide a detailed coverage on news items coming from rural areas and situations
covering law and order situations and gender-based violence. Nevertheless,
as not all the reports concerning either law and order situation or violence
against women are reported to police or covered by the media, there is a
tremendous controversy about the actual number of occurrences and the number
of incidents reported in newspapers. On the other hand, when we look at
the statistics, we see a tremendous increase both in the number occurrences
of violence against women and the deterioration of law and order situation.
In this connection, some argue that due to the relative media freedom under
a democratic regime and increase in public awareness on the issues of violence
against women, these incidents are reported more in newspapers now-a-days.
On the other hand, it can be safely argued that the censorship that was
imposed during the autocratic regime was directed only against the reporting
of sensitive political issues and was seldom directed against publishing
of incidents of violence against women. Apart from these arguments, as has
already been pointed out that there exists discrepancies in terms of reporting
of incidents, which not only depend on the type of newspapers (e.g. whether
vernacular or not), but also on the nature of grassroots affiliation of
newspapers.
Violence Against Women: 1995-97
The author would now like to present several statistics relating to gender-based
violence, collected from various sources. Barrister Amirul Islam, Vice President
of Bangladesh Bar Council has provided some statistics from the police report
on cases of rape, acid throwing, heinous hurt, torture and oppression by
other means on women. The total number of women victimised from the above
mentioned incidents was 3646 in 1996 and 5834 in 1997. According to police
sources, the incidents of rape were 525 in 1996, which which doubled in
1997 to 1336. In case of incidents of acid throwing, the number increased
from 66 in 1996 to 117 in 1997. The incidents of women trafficking also
rose to 103n in 1997 from 77 in 1996. All the numbers clearly indicate the
sharp rise of incidents of gender-based violence yearly.
A human rights organisation Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) has compiled cases
of violence against women from nine daily newspapers of the country. The
categories of violence that were covered in the study were rape, dowry,
fatwa, acid burn, domestic violence and suicide.
Incidents of Rape
Amongst different forms of violence against women, rape was the most frequently
reported incident during 1995 to 1997. The table shows that the incidents
of rape had increased from 38.2 per cent of the total reports in 1995 to
49 per cent in 1997. If we look at the number, it had increased from 240
in 1995 to 753 in 1997, which shows more than a two hundred per cent increase
in the number of incidents in only a three-year period. In 1997, 255 women
were gang-raped.
Violence Perpetrated by the Law Enforcing Agencies: Case of Yasmeen
On 24 August, 1995, some local people and some workers of BRAC, an NGO,
found the corpse of a young girl, named Yasmeen Akhter on the Dinajpur-Thakurgaon
highway, which is in the northern part of the country. The fourteen-year-old
teenager was given a lift in a police van and later raped by police and
left as dead on the street.
A local person discovered Yasmeen's body and the incident became public.
Soon after the incident was revealed, Police invented several stories regarding
the incident to detract the course of events. They issued a statement that
Yasmeen died while she tried to jump out from the van and that she was a
prostitute. However, nothing could conceal the truth and the local people
and the human rights organisations took up the issue. Following tremendous
public protest, police opened fire on the local people on 27 August in which
seven people died and over hundred people injured. However, later three
accused police officers were suspended and charged. A judicial inquiry submitted
its report to the government in October but it was not made public.
Custodial Rape: The Case of Seema
Seema Chowdhury, an 18-year-old garment factory worker died in safe
custody under mysterious circumstances on February 7, 1997. She was reportedly
raped by four policemen on 9 October 1996 but the accused were acquitted
by a trial court on 14 July 1997 "for lack of evidence". Two inquiries into
her death instituted by the government and by the parliament have been disappointing.
Seema was reportedly walking with her boyfriend, Abdul Hafiz, in the afternoon
of 8 October 1996 towards the village of Majidapura near the city of Chittagong.
Police personnel passing by arrested both under section 54 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure, which allows the police to arrest nine categories of
criminal suspects without an order from a magistrate, and without a warrant
of arrest. Police took both of them to the nearby Moghdi police camp and
they were kept there until the afternoon of 9 October and were not produced
before a court even though Bangladesh's Constitution requires any detainees
to be seen by the court within 24 hours of their arrest. The couple was
then transferred to Rauzan thana (police station) where they were held in
separate rooms. Abdul Hafiz was sent to a cell and Seema was 'detained'
in the office of the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the police station. The OC
claims that he had left at midnight, leaving his key with the duty officer
Uttam Kumar Majumdar and that three other policemen entered the room after
he left. Seema later recalled how the policemen on the night of 9 October
forced her to drink a glass of what she thought was "muddy water". She became
dizzy, and in that condition, the four policemen raped her. She was taken
to the Chittagong Medical College Hospital for check up where a medical
board disclosed that she had been raped.
Due to repeated appeals by human rights organisations, she was kept in the
safe custody at the Chittagong Jail. Seema remained in detention without
access to a lawyer or visits by her friends and her mother. She was later
diagnosed as having gastric ulcer and lung infection. Under these circumstances,
she became severely ill and on 7 February, she was taken to the Chittagong
Medical Hospital in a rickshaw van where the doctors declared she was dead.
The doctors identified typhoid to be the reason of her death after conducting
an autopsy. However, though according to rituals of Islam religion, a Muslim's
body must be interred, the authorities immediately burned Seema's body without
handing it over to her family.
Custodial Rape:
The abuse of women while in safe custody by members of the law enforcing
agencies, especially police has become a situation like "out of the frying
pan and into the fire". In 1997, members of the law enforcement agencies
had committed 14 such crimes.
Violence against Women: 1998
According to Barrister Amirul Islam's source, the number of repressive activities
against women stood at 7387 in 1998. The incidents of rape were 2959, which
had doubled since the previous year. The number of incidents of acid throwing
and women trafficking were 130 and 112 respectively.26
Odhikar, a human rights organisation, has revealed data on violence against
women in 1998 in four specific areas - rape, 'custodial rape' or rape in
police custody, violence related to dowry demands and acid throwing on women.
According to the findings of Odhikar, the reported incidents of violence
against women in 1998 are as follow:
Table 6: Violence against Women in 1998
|
Rape
by Police |
Rape |
Dowry Deaths |
Acid Throwing |
|
16 |
961 |
83 |
101 |
Incidents
of Rape
Odhikar documented a total of 961 cases of rape committed against women
throughout the country from January 1 to 31 December 1998. According to
Odhikar's report, 733 incidents of rape were reported during the same
period in 1997. Odhikar has also identified that the age group that was
most violated was from six to eleven years. 187 female children of this
age group were raped while 164 cases involved victims of twelve to fifteen
age group in 1998. 1998 also saw two terrible incidents of rape. In one
incident a minor girl of only eight years was raped in the police control
room at the Chief Metropolitan Magistrates Court building while in the
other female students of a university were raped by their classmates in
broad daylight.
Jahangir Nagar Incident
One of the most shocking incidents that occurred in 1998 were the rape
cases that rocked the Jahangir Nagar University, Savar, Dhaka, considered
to be one of the highest educational institutions of the country. Thirteen
students, all leaders or activists of the Bangladesh Chattra League, the
student fraction of the ruling Awami League, were accused of committing
rape and other forms of sexual violence against female students of the
university. According to the Fact Finding Committee Report, 177 students
were raped in twenty different areas on the campus but none had the courage
to reveal it due to threats of further incidents of harassment. According
to the report, "many of them were raped several times, some were gang-raped
and some were even forced to leave the campus after the incidents". Among
the alleged thirteen students, six accused abettors were acquitted due
to lack of evidence while seven were finally accused of committing rape.
But unfortunately, the university authority could not pursue the issue
firmly enough to set any exemplary punishment against the perpetrators.
The Syndicate of the university expelled one of the accused for life and
the other six received various punishments involving expulsion for either
two or three years. At the same time, another accused rapist received
a suspended expulsion for one year while two of them were served with
warning notices. The revelation of the rape incidents in the Jahangir
Nagar university gave rise to wide spread discussions on the security
of women and on the need of setting up exemplary punishments to prevent
any such occurrence in the future. However, the Jahangir Nagar university
authorities refused to file criminal cases against the accused, though
some teachers of the university favoured this option. The Vice Chancellor
of the university rather held that the victims were free to file charges
against the alleged perpetrators.
Custodial Rape
The Odhikar documented 16 incidents of police rape in 1998. Among the
victims, two were as young as ten years while the majority of the victims
were in their early teens. According to the findings of the organisation,
the crimes were committed not only by the police constables but also by
army personnel from the Bangladesh Rifles .
Acid Throwing:
The incidents of acid throwing, according to the Odhikar findings had
decreased to 101 in 1998, from 110 in 1997.
Violence Against Women in 1999
As the findings of 1999 goes, the year has surpassed every aspect in the
area of gender-based violence. According to again Barrister Amirul Islam's
findings, the total number of gender-based violence, comprising rape acid
throwing, heinous hurt, torture and oppression by other means on women
stood up at 4125 till June 1999. The incidents of rape were 1639 (until
June), acid throwing 62 (until June) and incidents of women trafficking
46 (until September) 1999.27
According to data published by the Bangladesh Manobadhikar Shamannya Parishad
on 11 December 1999, the eve of International Human Rights Day, from 1
January to 8 December 1999, 781 incidents of rape, 183 incidents of acid
throwing, 23 incidents of fatwa and 152 incidents of dowry-related death
had taken place. During the same period of eleven months and eight days,
810 incidents of rape, 173 incidents of acid throwing and 153 incidents
of dowry-related deaths took place.28
The Naripakkha, a women's organisation stated that a total of 629 women
were killed, 268 committed suicide and 337 others were harassed and tortured
during the ten-month period of 1999 from January to October.
The report published by the Documentation Unit of Odhikar, however, shows
little change in the situation of women with regard to gender-based violence
except for a massive increase in the number of acid throwing incidents
than the previous year. According to Odhikar, reported incidents of violence
in 1999 were as follows:
Table 7: Violence Against Women-199929
| Rape |
Rape
by Police |
Dowry Deaths |
Acid Throwing |
| 842 |
10 |
96 |
178 |
Odhikar
documented 842 cases of rape from 1 January to 31 December 1999. It has
also identified that the age group most violated was from six to fifteen
years. In October alone fourteen female children, aged between six to
ten years and eleven female children aged between eleven to fifteen years
were raped. According to Odhikar findings, ten women were violated by
members of the law enforcing agencies in 1999. One of the victims was
as young as only eight years of age while the majority of the victims
were between the ages of ten and fifteen.
The incidents of acid throwing have increased in 1999 despite tremendous
efforts taken both by the government and the non-governmental agencies.
While in 1998 the incidents of acid throwing were documented as 101, the
incidents rose to 178 in 1999. The majority of the victims fell belonged
to the eleven-fifteen and sixteen-twenty year old age group. The major
reasons for perpetrating such heinous acts against women were identified
as jealousy, refusal of advances and revenge after an argument. The incidents
of dowry deaths were recorded as 96 in 1999, where the victims were all
housewives. As the report goes, there were four incidents where the victims
were only sixteen years old, while in Bangladesh, according to law, the
age of marriage for a woman is determined to be above eighteen year.
1999 is also marked by the forced eviction of sex workers from the Tanbazaar
and Nimtoli brothels of Narayanganj, a port city adjacent to Dhaka. The
government's eviction of sex workers at midnight on 24 July on the grounds
of polluting the environment of the adjacent areas, was termed as an example
of "state-sponsored terrorism". Although the government had promised to
ensure proper rehabilitation of the sex workers, so far nothing concrete
has been initiated. Leaders of a coalition of 86 human rights organisations
have urged the government to publish official reports on the eviction
of sex workers and termed the eviction as a "major human rights violation".
Relationship between Law and Order Situation and Gender-based Violence:
A comparison of statistical data of the past few years has shown that
both the rate and intensity of gender-based violence and records of crime
is increasing. The findings of the study also shows that the total number
of incidents reported had nearly doubled from 628 in 1995 to 1,533 in
1997. While in 1995 the occurrence and percentage of public violence,
i.e. rape, fatwa and acid burn were 298 incidents and 47.45 respectively,
the same had increased to 911 incidents and 59.33. During this period,
though the incidents of domestic violence and dowry have increased in
number, the percentage in comparison with the total number of incidents
have fallen sharply. While the percentage of domestic violence was 32.32
in 1995, it had fallen to 9.53 in 1996 and again increased to 15.26 of
the total occurrence in 1997. The case of dowry related incidents are
somewhat different. It was 19.7 per cent in 1995 of the total number of
incidents and fell to 13.34 per cent in 1996 and again fell to 11.54 per
cent of the total occurrence in 1997.
The findings of the study indicate that a woman's safety is in jeopardy
outside her home. Newspapers and human rights organisations have increasingly
highlighted the absence of proper law enforcement that has aggravated
the existing law and order situation and gender-based violence. The issue
of growing insecurity of women in society is directly linked to broader
phenomena including the existing law and order situation and the misuse
of power through various channels. The deterioration of the system however,
can be traced to the mass use of weapons during the Bangladesh liberation
war of nine months. This usage of these weapons in a large scale and the
failure of the authorities to recover most of them gave ample opportunities
to the miscreants to misuse them accordingly.
The patronisation of terrorists by political parties to perpetrate violence
against opponents, the increasing inclusion of non-politicians in politics,
decaying trends moral values, the absence and inexperience with democratic
norms and practices, the absence of accountability of our institutions-have
equally contributed to the diminishing state of the society. The general
public can seldom trust government institutions and the law enforcement
agencies of the country, particularly the police force. We inherited our
institutions, their patterns of operations from the British Empire. The
primary purpose of the police force during the British Empire, was to
suppress the opposition. But this legacy was inherited by the subsequent
regimes, both in Pakistan and Bangladesh and the police force continues
to be a source of fear and domination. Since there was no conscious effort
to break this legacy of domination the basic understanding that law-enforcing
agencies should serve the people rather than dominate them was absent
from the very beginning. It is the same case with the defence forces,
which is perceived, as an alienated "force" with immense power to do anything
against the people. In other words the police and defence forces fail
to function as a "social service mechanism".This alienation has resulted
in the following:
a) regimes continued to use the police force to serve their vested political
interests;
b) members of the police were accordingly given enough space and opportunities
to demonstrate their macho chauvinism.
c) as the process continued, people genuinely wanting to serve the people
lost interest in joining the police and instead notorious, arrogant people
with lower merit and qualifications joined it. Humayun Azad, a famous
essayist, once commented, "now-a-days, only the most ill-featured and
notorious boys of the community join the police"; and
d) as members of the police force also realised their value with regard
to the regime in power, they became an unaccountable source of power.
These in turn, lead to massive corruption, the psychology of macho chauvinism
and the ultimate alienation of police from the masses. These combined
factors also shape the relationship between the police and vulnerable
groups including women into one of the oppressor and the oppressed. In
this respect, we can cite some examples. In the first case when several
policemen raped and murdered a minor girl, Yasmeen in 1995, the then government
in power, headed by a woman tried to protect those who committed the crime.
The government tried its best to cover the actual incident by issuing
false press releases, which was later uncovered. The then leader of the
opposition, who was also a woman, expressed her sympathy on the issue,
visited the place several times and joined the masses in the struggle
to establish the truth. In 1996 when the then leader of the opposition
became the head of the state, another girl was raped and died in the safe
custody. This time, the government maintained a silence from the beginning
but later formed several judicial enquiry teams, the results of which
were regarded as controversial by the human rights activists.
Therefore, the increase in both the occurrence and intensity in gender-based
violence with regard to the deteriorating law and order situation can
be linked to the broader issue of misuse of power by government institutions.
This involves the bureaucracy, the political party in power and police
aided by terrorism and money. All these issues are interlinked and the
pattern of linkage can be delineated through the following circular chart:
These channels, as is shown in the figure, are interlinked and influence
each other and thus, manipulate the overall functioning of the system.
In such a condition, the accountability of the institutions is largely
absent, and it is the vulnerable group that becomes affected by the massive
deregulation of the whole system. Moreover, the decaying trends of moral
values over the years have added to the total deterioration of our social
system. Therefore, while the administrative system has turned out to be
highly corrupt, the political culture too has been affected negatively.
As a result the general law and order situation has deteriorated and vulnerable
groups, especially women have been badly affected. The intensity and occurrence
of violence like rape, gang rape, rape in police custody, acid throwing
against women were not so frequent in the recent past. Nevertheless, we
can categorise several understandings that are related with the growing
gender-based violence and the rapid deterioration of law and order situation
in the society:
o Growing acceptance of violence by society.
o Upholding the prevailing gender ideology under which men dominate and
control women and reproduction of such ideology through popular culture
in the mass media.
o The easy availability of fire arms, acids, and other deadly weapons.
o Increasing exposure to violence through the print and electronic media.
o Direct and indirect patronisation of terrorists by political parties
and the use of weapons during political processions
and hartals.
o Increase in the number of the unemployed, who become easy targets of
political parties as recruits for "party cadre" positions.
o Manipulation of the facts of crime by law enforcing agencies, specially
police.
o The absence of proper enforcement of law and delay in the legal process.
The manifestations of the social malaise against women are taking outrageous
forms day by day. As the traditional subordinate position of women embodied
in our societal structure has enforced women's disgraced status, so has
the continuous deterioration in the law and order situation, which has
particular linkage with politics had a negative impact on the security
of women. The research findings of this study also reveals that women
are the most affected social group under the deteriorating law and order
situation of the country. Women's right to free movement, sexual harassment
at the work place, harassment and violence at the market places - all
are jeopardised under such condition. The linkage between the growing
disorder in the law and order situation and its negative impact on gender-based
violence was revealed in an incident where a woman was abused on 31st
night of 1999 in the Dhaka University campus area in the presence of police.
The major accused in the incident was a member of the student forum of
the ruling party and it was alleged that the police force had deliberately
left out his name in the list of suspects.
Therefore, we can perceive a chain of vested interests that exists between
the ruling party and members of the law enforcing agency- primarily the
police force. The general public thus has lost faith in this institution,
which is perceived as being totally corrupt, and the overall system has
endangered vulnerable groups, especially women. |
